Constitutionality of law challenged

October 30, 2003

A hastily passed state law that empowered Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to keep a severely brain-damaged woman alive is unconstitutional, attorneys for the woman's husband claimed Wednesday.

In a court filing in Clearwater, attorneys for Michael Schiavo asked that the law, which gave Bush the authority to order Terri Schiavo's feeding tube be reinserted Oct. 21, be overturned. The filing contends the law violates Terri Schiavo's right to privacy under the Florida Constitution and the separation of power provisions of the state constitution.

DOTSON IN COURT: Two attorneys were appointed Wednesday to represent Carlton Dotson on murder charges in the shooting death of former Baylor basketball teammate Patrick Dennehy. Dotson, 21, made his first court appearance in Waco, Texas, a day after being returned to the state from Maryland.

ABORTION-RIGHTS ADS: The abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America says it plans to run a television ad as soon as President Bush signs the recently passed measure banning the procedure most widely known as partial-birth abortion. The ad is scheduled to run in Iowa, New Hampshire and the District of Columbia for less than a week.

TEEN TESTIFIES IN SNIPER TRIAL: The only child shot during last year's sniper spree calmly told a jury in Virginia Beach, Va., his story Wednesday. "I put my book bag down and I got shot," said Iran Brown, 14. Brown was cut down by a bullet on his way to his middle school in Bowie, Md., last October.